Faster Than A Speeding Bullet

What is faster than a speeding bullet, more curious than a cat, more charged than the Energizer Bunny? 50 muchachos at Superman Summer Camp, ages 9-14, that’s who!

Wow, talk about one tiring and rewarding experience. This week I brought 3 young boys, whom have probably never left more than an hour from home, to camp in the great outdoors of the mountain community called Los Bueys. This is where we held a Peace Corps camp called Camp Superman, which is a young boys camp to give them a fun experience where they can also learn the values to be the best “Superman” they can be.

What did we do in Camp Superman? Fly? Well almost. We made a relay race ending in a large slip-in-slide finish. We also played Survivor, a take on Laser tag, where we used Alka Seltzer tabs tied on necklaces, and the teams were equipped with water bags to try to spray and dissolve the other teams tabs. Once the tab melts and falls off the necklace, you are thus out of the game, but can still help your team by filling up water and cheering or yelling intimidating battle cries. We also did the classic relay race while first spinning around a bat, and then they had to run to their respective team volunteer and then run back. This resulted in every child immediately running sideways and collapsing on the ground. One very small child whom could hardly see, because he always wore his purple plastic glasses only around his neck, ran straight into my surprising arms. Myself not being his volunteer, quickly tried to redirect this poor blind dizzy child to his repective volunteer. Aw it was so cute. There was also the always emotional tug-of-war, team building activities, trust falls, a nature hike, wilderness survival by Dominican Boys Scouts, science projects, instrument making and drum line, paint your own superman plaque, obviously a bonfire and s'mores, and lots and lots of river time. There were no showers so the river also became our bath.

To qualify for our grant funding for the camp, we had a group come to teach about HIV/AIDS through soccer drills and games. I also had the pleasure of trying to teach about gender roles to pre-adolescent boys. I am not sure how much they actually absorbed, but at least they’ve been introduced to the topic, right? We did do improvisation skits, which they did at least like, and repeated through out the camp by saying PAUSA (Pause, in case you couldn’t get that translation), and make their friends freeze, Saved By the Bell style.

The boys got to set up their own tents with the help of volunteers, and I actually slept underneath the stars for lack of tents. One really hilarious coincidence, was one of the 3 dominican made movies, happened to take place in the area that we camped. Just our luck this movie was in the horror genre and it was called Andrea (the same as one of the volunteers at the camp). Think… having a small boys camp in the middle of the Blair Witch Forest. Whoops. The muchachos were thus freaking out and saying Andrea was bothering them all night long. Our first response was, hmm I don’t think Andrea would be doing that (referring to the volunteer not the haunting, killing, spirit). We then later learned about the movie, and I have since bought it for mine and your viewing pleasure once I return.

Scary spirits aside, the boys had a very rewarding experience, leaving their communites, meeting boys from all over the country, camping, and learning to be little gettleman.

We had rewards for a Superman for every day, whom exemplified the values of Superman, hence helping others, justice, strength, and politeness. The last day we gave the boys certificates, t-shirts, and comic books and then rewarded one extra special boy the title of Superman of the Camp! Guess whose kid won??? Yours truly, Superman Alex Rodriguez from Higuerito, Moca! I felt like a proud mother! He won a few different gifts, the best being a brand new baseball glove, which we broke in this weekend playing catch.

Okay get ready with some tissues…

When it started pouring and we finished playing catch, Alex, was asking me how proud I was of him in the camp. He was also asking how we decided on choosing the different Superman’s of the day and camp, and whom else I had nominated for the awards and why. I told him, how we had chosen the most helpful, caring, and polite campers for the awards because they exemplified the values of Superman. I told Alex that besides him, I was extremely impressed by the first day winner, a young boy named Carlin. I asked him, if he had known that Carlin lives on the street half of the time, and the other half in a youth center in Santiago (a nearby city) where a fellow volunteer works. He was silent and shook his head no. I told him how impressed I was by Carlin’s selflessness, always wanting to help others and how gracious he was for everything during the camp. For a child growing up in such harsh conditions, I told him its impressive for Carlin to be growing into such a positive and loving man.

Alex, turns to me and says, “I guess there are a lot of homeless Haitians living here, whom lost their homes in the earthquake.” I tell him yes that is true. With tears in his eyes, he tells me, “If I could, I would build a hotel with 1 million rooms to house 1 million Haitians, so no one would have to be without a home.” It was maybe one of the sweetest things I have heard in this country. I told him yes maybe one day he could. I also told him I would look into visiting the center where Caralin sometimes stays, if he wanted to. He just shook his head yes.

In a country where racial tensions are quite high, I was quite touched by Alex’s compassion. It goes to show, that change is possible especially through the still forming minds of children.


This year, I have the pleasure of being in charge of a regional diversity camp for youth ages, 13-20 mas o menos. The Camp is called Celebrando Cibao (Celebrating the Cibao, which is the name for the north region of the Dominican Republic).

During the three-day conference, participants have a safe environment in which to examine their own culture, be introduced to other cultures, and gain the tools to combat discrimination in their communities. The conference will give my youth the opportunity to share and learn with 80 other young Dominicans throughout the northern region of the country.

The conference will be financed by a grant through donations from each participating community, and from volunteers’ family and friends.

The grant is through a program called Peace Corps Partnership, which allows family, friends, and the general public to donate to sustainable Peace Corps projects in a tax-deductible safe manner.

Donate! Tax-deductible donations can be made at this link.

https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=517-389


I hope everyone’s summer is doing great! Miss you all and good food so much!

El viaje con estilo

As I last wrote, I decided to spend casi todo (almost all) of my remaining vacation days on a Central American Adventure… below if you dare to read further, is what went down, swam around, and got cooked up.

-Dominican Republic, 4 PM EST, 27 de Abril. Rachele (fellow Peace Corps volunteer from Kansas) and I start the trip off right, by being bumped up to Business Class, probably due to our classy attire and blonde hair. We take full advantage our first class position, sipping at our complementary alcoholic drinks, and eating our delicious complementary sandwich, later finding out that this was not only to be enjoyed by business class. No matter your class nor if the flight is 45 minutes long, Copa Airlines gives you at least 1 alcoholic drink, coffee, normal beverage, sandwich and or snack on every flight. (We had 3 flights to get to Honduras… FLY COPA!)

After our revelery on our 3 flights, Rachele and I arrive in San Pedro Sula, Honduras weary and happy. We are picked up by our delightful hostal owner, and our instantly slapped in the face by a wet blanket tat 11:30 pm at night as we leave the airport. Well this is to signify that it was almost unimaginably humid and hot in Honduras in the middle of the night, which is something to say for someone who has been living on a Caribbean island for 2 years and thinks 75 F is frigid.

We met up with Rachele’s college friend and husband, Amy and Adam, whom are quite possibly the coolest married couple I have ever met (outside of Samantha and Mark of course… they baby puts them over the edge). Their wedding was themed with Beatles music, and the reception was at a fancy club, where you can also bowl, and their invitation was a fake tattoo you had to wear to enter. But back to Honduras.

The first half of the trip we spent up in the Mountains in small towns call Victoria and Yorito, that were about 5 to 6 hours from the two big cities Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula to visit my friend Janet whom was the Peace Corps volunteer in my site and house before me and extended a year and a half in Honduras with Peace Corps. We also visited Rachele’s other college friend Sarah whom is Janet’s closest volunteer by chance! They lived out in the Sticks, which kind of reminded me of the Wild Wild West. Think: lots of men riding horses with Cowboy hats, and saloon like looking places. I even rode a horse while I was there… although I rode one here last week too. Too top it all off, Sarah told us about a shoot out they had a few months ago where the whole town basically chased and killed a group of bandits that were robbing a general store called a pulperia. As the mayor said later after no one was convicted of the murders “Victoria takes care of its people.” I tell you what; I bet the crime has been down, I would definitely think twice before messing with a bully like Victoria. I would instead choose to pick on a wussy town such as Sally.

Sarah’s soon to be Honduran husband happens to be a chef! This worked out wonderfully, although I felt a little bad that they kept feeding us… but not that bad. He made a wonderful mocacinno cake which was moist, chocolately, and delicious. They also made us a pizza that we brought to Janet’s site for and English game night. I might have been a little competitive with the Hondurans during monopoly. I was negotiating up a storm!

The next day we helped Janet with her English class, and then headed on public transportation (aka old US school buses that have been pimped out with flat screens, and crazy seat covers… if you are lucky) all the way to the North Coast, to Tela. Tela was not much too look at.. kind of crowded and dirty, but we took a short taxi ride to a nearby village called Torneo Bay where a small sub-culture of Honduras the Garifuna, live.

“With their own language, customs, dances, and music the Garifuna have maintained a distinctive lifestyle in the midst of the Honduran north coast society. . . . two completely different cultures, one from Africa and the other from the rainforests of South America, meeting by chance on an island in the middle of the Caribbean. Not only did they get along, but they mixed their blood, their cultures borrowing from each to develop a new language and new customs. . . .Unlike other minority groups in Honduras, they show no signs of losing their culture. The Garifuna have a built-in resilience immediately apparent on the proud, strong faces and direct gazes that greet visitors to any Garifuna community.”

Here there was one of the most beautiful beaches in Honduras! Seemingly endless white sand beaches, with little thatched roof houses and restaurants sparsely tucked away on the edges. We saw an impromptu soccer game by locals and had a delicious fish meal at one of the local family owned establishments. The children were absolutely adorable, flocking to our cameras, pouring over all our photos of our travels and of my work in the DR.

The next day we said our goodbyes to Janet and headed off to the Bay Islands, which boast the third biggest coral reef in the world! There are three main islands: Roatan, Guanaja, and Utila. We chose to go to Utila because it was known as the backpacker’s island and was assumingly the cheapest. These islands represent another sub-culture of Honduras. Most of the inhabitants are of European descent dating back to Pirate times, where they used these islands as their base. I kept referring to the inhabitants as descendants of the pirates, but no to their faces… I didn’t know if they would take this too kindly. Anyhoo, English is the main language spoken on the islands, and Spanish just started being taught there 30 years ago! The island is a backpacker hippie paradise. The island was absolutely beautiful with white white sand, turquoise water, with almost no waves. We went snorkeling around a ship wreck and at another reef spot, and we saw an innumerable amount of brightly colored fish. We even saw an eel, yikes! I started my scuba diving certification in the DR but I hadn’t finished it, so sadly I did not go scuba diving. Rachele plans on moving back to the Bay Islands, so I figure I will just scuba dive when I come back and visit her. Besides the natural beauty, there was a culinary beauty of a huge variety of types of food, which is unimaginable after the monotony of Honduran and Dominican cuisine. I had falafel! The bar scene was also an experience. Many of the bars were located on docks, where you could hang out and drink over the Caribbean Sea. There was one amazing hotel/bar called the Jade Sea Horse, which was owned by an artisan. He created a sort of Alice in Wonderland effect. He has done mosaics over stone walls, tunnels, and overhangs. The buildings are tilted or overlapping each other, completely bewildering your eyes, until you don’t know if you are believing what your are seeing.

We stayed on this magical island for about 3 days, and then headed back to San Pedro Sula to sleep in the airport for our 6:00 flight. We convinced a lovely Dutch youth to share a taxi and stay at the airport with us. The next day we flew with sandwiches and drink in hand to Costa Rica, where we had a 7 hour layover and I was able to visit Hannah at her apartment, swim at the pool, and eat lunch. We also had an adventure in Panama in our overnight layover, but that story will be for another day.

LAST BUT NOT LEAST… I must plug my Artisan Store project for donations. Please, Please, Please visit this link and donate and send it to all your friends! I have raised 100 so far, but I have about $2,400 y pico to go! Thanks you all so much in advance.

Link to Donate:

https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=517-380

Money Money Money

Receiving, and applying for $$$$ dolla dolla bills for small sustainable development projects. That’s what I have been up to these last 2 weeks. There is nothing like cold hard cash to get you out of a slump. I had been feeling a little lethargic the last month or so, until I found out on the same day that I just received 2 grants (one after 9 months of waiting). The long awaited grant is to help fund activities for my sex-ed/HIV course for pre-teen and teenagers. I started the class with out the funds and am not about to graduate my second course… I had almost given up hope when I found a large lump sum in my bank account. I quickly made a new account for the new funds, as to not by accidentally spend them on empanadas.

My second grant is for a kid’s art class for the summer. Since children here do not get many formal outlets for creativity, I figured this would be a fun activity that I could join with our new community library, to promote education in the summer. Furthermore, I got news that a package of educational toys from my mom’s employer Discovery Toys, are now on their way! These kids should have a great time this summer in the library! My scheme is to try to just jam pack the library with kids to pump up interest before I leave, so the project continues forward!

One exciting step towards sustainability for the library is a new literacy program started by one of my former students, Emmanuel. Emmanuel is a stellar 14 year old in my community. He came to me with the idea, to start a reading club to help teach small children to read in the morning. The library is usually only open in the afternoons, when the younger grades are in school, so this gives them an opportunity to enjoy the library. I said it sounded great to me, just come to the library meeting and present it to the committee. With the go ahead of the committee, I passed him a copy of the library key, and his face lit up like a flood lamp. His class now meets 3 mornings a week, and he has about 13-20 kids per class. I obviously, had to check this class out… see pictures above!

Continuing, on my pathway of fundraising, I applied for two new grants this week. One is to hold an awareness event against violence against women. This idea came up after I gave a presentation on the subject to the 2 women’s groups, and the women loved the idea but wanted to take the message farther. They brought up the idea to have all the community groups involved, giving dramas, and doing a march. I saw an opportunity for a women’s empowerment grant called Mothers to Mothers, and decided to try to see if I can get some money for the event. Either way, we hope to have the event in the summer.

Lastly, I just turned in an application for a small grant for my artisan association called the Peace Corps Partnership Program (PCPP). This grant will be funding the creation of a small office for the artisans to better organize their business and finances, improvements on the artisan building to create a central store, and funds to create promotional materials for the association. If approved you will be hearing more about this project later… because this grant is funded by my family and friends back at home! The artisans will be covering 40% of project costs, but I will need to raise US $2,600 as fast as possible. The faster I raise the money means the faster we can implement the project, and the faster I can go home. Meaning… if you want me to return, when the time comes, please help out my cause with donations and/or passing on the link to everyone you can. I have a feeling, the project won’t be approved for a month, but just a heads up!

In other news, I just started getting involved with a new movement of volunteers to share and talk about world and political issues and how they relate to development work. We spent the other weekend at my friend’s cabin, where we had debates, presentations, and watched a few documentaries. It was a really fun time to get together with volunteers but also educate each other about world issues, which we can sometimes forget about in our villages, where we our cut off from world news. The group just started a small publication (not sponsored by Peace Corps), if anyone is interested in reading. The first edition in PDF can still be found at this link https://drop.io/progressivecircle/login (password: firstamendment). You will not find anything from me here, but hopefully I will put something together for the second issue.

Last but not least…. I just need to say, I PLACED 3^RD, in the hitch hiking race last weekend (also not Peace Corps sponsored)! Just think the amazing race with costumes. This is a pretty big honor- which was recognized by a sweet DR hat, I received from the organizers.

That’s it for now. But a look ahead…. I will be leaving for Honduras Tuesday the 27^th for 11 days! Be ready for some Latin American adventure tales for sure!